


You're the shark to my sunset

by majel



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: And a boat, Bickering, Except Danny doesn't know, First Date, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining, Rated T for language, Steve tries to be romantic - he fails, There are sharks, and a sunset, idiots to lovers, iditos in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28454718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/majel/pseuds/majel
Summary: "This, the boat, the food, the sunset, the fucking sharks. Is that-are you- Steve, are you trying to be romantic? Is this your way of putting a move on me?”Steve, usually so reliable under all sorts of pressure, freezes up at that. He can feel a sharp warmth spreading through his body. He’s trying to come up with some sort of response that’s not “yes” but all his brain comes up with is a whole lot of white noise. His neck feels very hot and he knows he’s honest to god blushing. He stares at Danny, opens his mouth, closes it and tries again.The one where Steve and Danny go on a date. Only problem is only one of them knows it's a date.
Relationships: Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Comments: 18
Kudos: 146





	You're the shark to my sunset

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cortexikid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cortexikid/gifts).



> I never thought I’d find myself in 2020 writing my first fanfic in three years and it being McDanno. But 2020 is a wild year and so here we are. I blame this on equal parts on both cortexikid who is an evil enabler and my husband who walked up to me a few weeks ago and proclaimed that “Danny and Steve of Hawaii Five-0 are my only gay ship!”. And really who can expect me to not get into this series afterwards?  
> This takes place in an undefined time, where everything is nice, Steve and Danny have been friends for years and everything else is just as you want to imagine it.

“Can you _please_ tell me why we're here?” Danny pleads raising his hands in that impatient gesture that’s so common to see on him. He’s always accusing Steve how he can’t relax or take a break. How too many years devoted to military service made him unable to keep still always on the verge of the next move - when really it’s the exact opposite. Steve is generally a patient man. Hot headed and reckless? Sure, but he’s also perfectly content to keep absolutely immobile for hours if that is what it takes to get his shot. Danny on the other hand is the most restless human being Steve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

He’s constantly moving. Crossing his arms, gesturing, sighing, pacing, shifting his weight, touching. He’s constantly expressing, interacting and he uses his whole body to do it. There’s a lot of show to it Steve knows but most of it is absolutely genuine Danny and Steve loves it. Let’s it wash over him and pull him in like the current of the sea does a drowning man.

Right now he’s leaning on the ship's railing, his arms crossed in front of that puffy life jacket he always makes a huge spectacle of putting on whenever Steve drags him onto any sort of water vehicle. He knows it’s as much due to honest concern as it is to rail him up. Danny has two kids to worry about and it’s just stupid to not weat a life jacket but Steve is a Navy Seal. So Danny makes a show about getting on a boat with him, about his safety, about how Steve is going to get them into trouble. It’s their thing. It’s expected. It fits like an old, comfortable sweater that you wear on a rainy day at home. They both know there’s not a safer boat Danny could be on. That Danny respects his competence and trusts him implicitly, so Steve makes sure to appreciate that by putting on the farce of being offended each time.

“ _Steve_! Are you even listening to me? Or are you just, I don’t know rejoicing in my misery?” Danny hisses, his eyebrows comically high raised and Steve rushes in his direction because if he doesn’t act fast he knows he’s risking Danny getting seriously pissed off and that’s just not the direction this was supposed to go.

“I do not rejoice in your misery,” he says joining him at the railing but looking out at the sea. That’s what he brought them here for after all. “What gave you that idea?”

“I don’t know, _maybe_ the fact that you call me late in the afternoon and tell me to meet you at the docks because it’s important, but not telling me what's up. And me being the good friend that I am does just that because knowing you this could be anything from an international crisis, to you wanting to go for an evening run or whatever. And then you drag me on this boat, still not telling me where we’re going and you _know_ how I hate boats, and now the sun is setting and we’re somewhere on the middle on the fucking _ocean._ So please, _Steven_ ,” Danny demands, pushing off the railing and yep, there is the gesturing again, “just tell me, do you need me to dump a body with you or what are we doing here?”

Steve blinks. “We’re not dumping a body, Danny!” He chides after a moment, irritation flooding through him. “Seriously what sort of criminal do you think I’d be?” This is not going to plan. When he pictured this, this was not what he expected to happen, but really he shouldn’t be surprised should he? He resolutely fixes his gaze on the gently swaying water.

“Oh, I know _exactly_ what sort of criminal you’d be! Ever since I met you, I have been involved in an endless string of dubious-to-right-out-criminal activity, so do not act as if I wouldn't be a goddamn expert on the type of criminal you'd be!”

“Fine!” Steve hisses because Danny is right. Steve has been turning his life into a shitshow ever since that day they held each other at gunpoint. Apparently it’s a much more realistic assumption that he’s invited his friend out for an evening body dump than whatever the fuck he imagined he was gonna pull of here. The irritation sits thick under his skin, makes him feel hot and defensive. He just wants the whole thing to be over now, for Danny to not see the mess that he made so he adds: “I wouldn’t need you help dumping a body, though. I can do that alone!”

He expects Danny to keep yapping, to jump on what he said like a dog that got thrown a bone, but instead there’s just a sigh and some movement. A moment later, there are two hands that join him on the railing and a warm shoulder is pressing into his upper arm. When he turns his head, he finds Danny’s facing out to the water and his body pressed into Steve’s side in that way only Danny does. After all these years Steve still hasn’t figured out if it’s meant as a reassurance to him or to keep him in check. Probably both. 

Danny isn’t looking at the water though, he’s looking at Steve and when their gaze meets he says in complete ernsety: “You know you wouldn't have to though, right?” And when Steve doesn’t respond, immediately he adds: “Whatever the reason that got you there, I’d help you dump a body. No questions asked.”

Steve can’t help but smile at that. He gently bumps his own arm into Danny, because that’s what they do, this is how they let each other know that they get it, how they acknowledge that they are having a real-talk moment here. And it’s here, that Steve wonders if the love that Danny feels for him, feels anything at all like that burning, passionate thing that burns inside his own chest. He doesn’t dare ask that though, so he says: “You don’t really hate boats.”

Because if he actually does, Steve got this more wrong than he already knows he has and even though Danny will never know, never figure it out hopefully, Steve will never live that down internally. But Danny just laughs, a short, quiet thing, shakes his head and looks back out at the water. His stupid hair is wind ruffled, painted all warm and golden by the setting sun and Steve is so in love with him he’d be annoyed if he wasn’t so used to it by now.

“So if we’re not here to dump a body, what are we doing here?”

He should have known Danny wouldn’t let that go and really, Steve thinks it’s fair. It’s reasonable to want an explanation to why he’s getting dragged on a seemingly pointless boat trip, but Steve thought it was pretty self-explanatory. Once he settled on the idea that he needed to do this and that he needed to do this _now,_ that was that. He got everything ready, called Danny and figured he wouldn’t really need to explain what he was doing. Either he’d get punched in the face or not. 

Looking at his friend, Seve feels bad just thinking that. He knows Danny would never actually punch him. Not for that. He’d probably babble a lot and be flattered and actually very understanding because that’s who Danny is. But now that they are here and Danny doesn’t understand what this _is_ , what Steve is trying to do, he doesn’t want the awkwardness.

The look on Danny’s face is slowly turning back from curious to annoyed at Steve’s continued silence, so Steve figures what the hell. Might as well tell him and get it over with. Chances are, if Danny hasn’t picked up on his initial intentions by now that won’t change it and they’ve done weirder things together.

“I wanted to show you something” he says and points out at the water where he spotted the fins gliding through the waves earlier when he stopped the boat. They are beautiful, dark silhouettes against the setting sun, the rippling water tinted orange. It mesmerizing how they glide through the water and Steve is glad he gets to show this to Danny, even if he’ll never understand what it means.

Danny drops his gaze to where Steve is pointing at and Steve can see the moment he spots them on his face. His eyes widen, his mouth snaps shut and while he’d been slumped over the railing before, he’s now standing straight as a pole. Danny’s whole body radiates tension and Steve would be afraid there’s someone pointing a gun at his own head if he wasn’t 100% certain there’s not. 

Immediately, Steve wants to reach out and sooth. Maybe even drop a line about how Danny doesn’t have to be afraid because Steve is here to protect him. But they don’t do that sort of thing and by now he’s pretty certain that it wouldn’t be welcome. Everything is really not going how he’d thought it would go. So Steve shoves away the fantasy of draping a protective arm around Danny, and prepares himself for what’s to come. 

“Steve?” Danny shudders, “Are those sharks?”

And what is he supposed to say to that except, “Yes?” because they obviously are.

“Did you seriously bring me out here in the middle of the ocean-”

“It’s not the middle of the ocean,” he interjects because it’s not. Danny’s acting like he abducted him out to a dangerous high sea mission, while they are actually just watching some harmless sharks at sunset, “we’re still well near the coast-”

“ _Not_ the fucking point, Steven! Again I’m asking why are there sharks?”

“They are nice to look at, and very important in Hawaiian culture. I thought you might want to see them!” he protests turning away from the water and retreating a step back further onto the boat. He thought this would be nice, something beautiful for them to share, but he was wrong and he should have just driven them home, instead of pointing out the sharks. Now he’s upset because Steve got it wrong.

“And whatever gave you the idea that I would appreciate being in the middle of sharks on a tiny boat on the Hawaiian ocean? You really are crazy. Does everything have to be an adrenaline chase for you? And here I thought this might actually be you attempting - admittedly in a very weird way - to just spend some friendly time together!” Danny sneers and that hits harder than Steve expected it to. 

He knows Danny is just ranting, just falling back into their familiar pattern because he’s been thrown and that’s what he does. But Steve doesn’t know how to deal with that right now because he thought…and he tried to…and he doesn’t know how to put that into words without embarrassing himself further. The disappointment already sits there boiling in his gut, raising his defences and he just wants to go home, where no one can see him and he can lick his wounds in peace.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles, because he is. He really is. He should have left well enough alone and now he has to come up with a way to get them out of this without doing any damage, without Danny figuring out what he was trying to do and he fucking can’t _think_. 

He turns around, stumbles for the motor because that’s what gonna get them out of here and breathes hard. He knows he’s overreacting, that’s he got to get a grip on himself and say something like: _“They are harmless sharks Danny. You could even swim with them. You want me to show you?”_ and then Danny would say something like: _“Are you fucking insane? You are not going in that water when there are sharks out there. What is it with you, Steven? I know we joke you were trained with sharks as a SEAL, but let me remind you, that you did in fact not do that.”_ But he can’t bring himself to do it. He just keeps breathing hard, trying to fight down the weird mess of emotions and not give himself away. When he hears a tentative: “Steve?” behind him he knows he failed to do that. And fuck, how is he supposed to explain himself to Danny now?

Sure enough there’s a warm hand wrapping around his shoulder a second later. 

“Steve?” Danny asks again and his voice is low and even, and so very soft. It’s the voice Steve usually sees him use on scared, traumatized victims or when he has to report to a family that something awful happened to one of their loved ones. Now he’s using it on Steve and pulling on his shoulder in a silent question to turn around and get up. Steve closes his eyes and goes because there’s nothing else to do and really, how is he supposed to resist?

“Steve,” Danny breathes when they are standing face to face again. Probably a little bit too close like they always tend to do. Danny pulls his hand back from Steve’s shoulder and Steve misses his presence immediately. He wants to reach out, wants to grab Danny and shake him and demand: _“Can’t you see what you’re doing to me?”_ but he can’t. That would actually make him the madman Danny claims him to be. So, he gathers his wits as best he can and says with as much cockyness as possible, “ _Danny_ ”.

Danny doesn’t take the bait tough. He just tilts his head a little and looks up and says: “Talk to me, Steve. What’s going on here?”

“Nothing!” Steve rushes to reassure and takes a step back. “Just forget it. I thought you might want to see some sharks, you obviously didn’t and now I’m taking you home. Just forget it.”

The look in Danny’s eyes tells Steve he’s not convinced, but he’s putting his hands up in his I’m-not-going-to-fight-you gesture and says: “Okay,” while also backing up, going back to the railing. Steve loves him for doing that. For knowing which battles to pick and his heart beats hard. Bitterly, he wishes he could stop feeling this way. That would make everything so much easier.

He knows Danny hasn’t given up. Instead he is thinking, deducting and he knows Danny is damn well good at that. What Steve doesn’t know is what he actually fears more. Danny reaching the right conclusion or him not figuring it out at all. His own head is running miles a minute already trying to come up with a backup plan, just in case.

Meanwhile, Danny looks across the boat and as his eyes land on the bag full of food Steve has bought along his forehead crinkles. Steve gets the sudden urge to kick the bag out of sight so Danny can’t look at it again, can’t deduce anything from it, but that would make it even more suspicious. He watches as Danny gaze switches from the bag, out to the sharks and back to Steve. He repeats that a few times, while Steve is glued to the spot, unable to bring himself to move and start to boat. 

Suddenly, Danny’s eyes widen and he stares at Steve so intently, that Steve has to consciously suppress the urge to switch into a defensive stance.

“Steven,” Danny states and it’s so soft this time it’s like he actually thinks he might spook him and make him jump overboard. It’s unnecessary because obviously, Steve’s a SEAL so he wouldn’t do that because it’s stupid. Anyway, even if he did, he’s pretty sure he could actually still manage to swim back to shore, or at least until he reaches the next boat. So no need to worry. 

“We’re friends, so I’m just gonna ask you something here and I trust you to tell me if I’m right or if I’ve gone absolutely insane, ok?”

“Sure. Wouldn’t miss a chance to tell you you’re insane.” Steve grins because that’s safe and he has no idea where this is going.

“Okay. Good,” Danny says and bobs his head down like he’s collecting his thoughts or he’s gathering some sort of courage. Steve doesn’t really get the chance to contemplate on that because Danny barrels on: “This,” and makes some sort of twirling motion with his finger as if to point out everything, “The boat, the food, the sunset, the _fucking_ sharks. Is that-are you- Steve, are you trying to be romantic? Is this your way of putting a move on me?”

Steve, usually so reliable under all sorts of pressure, freezes up at that. He can feel a sharp warmth spreading through his body. He’s trying to come up with some sort of response that’s not “yes” but all his brain comes up with is a whole lot of white noise. His neck feels very hot and he knows he’s honest to god blushing. He stares at Danny, opens his mouth, closes it and tries again. Eventually he settles on: “Just leave it, Danny,” and it comes out more as a whine than the pissed retort he had meant it as.

He can see Danny’s eyes widen, they nearly bugging out of his face. His mouth drops open and he stares up at Steve in utter shock and disbelief. It’d be comical if Steve didn’t feel as much like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Oh my god!” Danny sputters, “You totally are!”

Steve McGarett is many things, but he’s neither a liar nor a coward, so he doesn’t even try to object. He just takes a shallow breath and tries to make the best of the ruins that lay before him. He contemplates what his best move would be, what would do the least damage and settles on deflection. “Just forget it, please. We should go home,” he mutters and sets to turn but suddenly, there's a hand on his arm preventing him.

“Steve,” Danny pleads and how many times has he said that to him now? His face is very serious, but also very kind. Steve was obviously right. Danny would never hit him for this. “I need you to tell me if I’m right.”

Steve can’t think of a reason why on earth he’d want to do that. Steve’s ears are burning and he’s sure his face is an unbecoming red for a SEAL. He’s not sure he’s ever been this humiliated in front of Danny. But Danny isn’t a cruel man, so Steve tries to pull out of his grip, hoping he’ll let him go, but the hand just closes harder. 

“I know this sort of thing is hard for you. But this is one of those times where you can’t just let me make assumptions and run with it. I really need you to use your words right now and tell me whether I’m right or wrong!”

And what the hell, Steve decides, in for a penny, in for a pound. It’s not like this can actually get that much more embarrassing and once it’s out there, they can at least just try to get past it and move on. Steve _needs_ them to move on from this because he cannot live with himself if he just ruined the best thing in his life. 

So reaches for his most intimidating Commander face, the one he uses when he’s trying to end each and every last discussion and says: “You’re right, Danny. But it was obviously a very stupid idea so now I am taking us home!”

The thing is, Danny doesn’t even seem a little intimidated. He hasn’t been taking shit from Steve ever since the first day they met. So really Steve is expecting him to not let it go. What he doesn’t expect is for Danny to beam absolutely wide, pull even more insistently at him and say: “Oh, absolutely not! We’re staying right here!” 

It’s teasing and lighthearted and pushes all of Steve's automatic bantering-mode buttons. He’s already started protesting before his brain catches up with his mouth.

“And why not? You obviously hate it here, so excuse me for cutting my losses. Least you could do is let me wallow in peace!”

“Oh, you’re right. I _do_ absolutely hate it here,” Danny smiles and he still hasn’t let go of Steve’s arm. “Mostly due to the sharks, though. Really Steve, what were you thinking? Do I look like the shark-kinda guy to you? _But_ you, my friend, are being romantic and now that I know that I’m gonna let you.”

Steve stares. His brain does not compute. “You are gonna ‘let me’?”

“Yup,” Danny says with a smile that Steve has seen him give multiple times. At Rachel, at Gabby, at Melissa, at a cute waitress. But never at him. He thought maybe sometimes he caught a whiff of it when they looked at each other, but never this direct, not this unapologetic. And frankly, Steve doesn’t know what to do with it. He notices there’s a second hand on him now on his other arm and they are standing unusually close again. Though maybe, just this once, it’s not really unusual. Turns out, Danny may just be the braver one of them and Steve isn’t really surprised. He has always known that. His brain might just be catching up to what's happening here. The verdict is still out on that.

“In fact,” Danny continues with a smirk, “I’m not only gonna let you. I’m actually going to enjoy myself.”

Steve is a doomed man. He knows he is because in that moment he realizes what Danny is really saying here. What he’s offering and he can do nothing but reach out and take it. He must be grinning stupidly, probably still red in his face from all the embarrassment he just suffered through, but he couldn’t care less. He reaches back for Danny’s hip and pulls, bridging that last gap between them. Danny goes willingly and now they are really, actually and truly standing indencently close. Grinning at each other and breathing the same air.

“That's how it is huh? You are gonna enjoy yourself?” Steve teases because they are here now and that’s how they are and how is he supposed not to?

“Yeah. So are you gonna start wooing me now? Or do you want to keep staring and freak out a little more?”

“Oh, you want me to woo you?”

“I thought I made that unambiguously clear?”

“You think so? Well, here’s the thing. I thought I did so too.”

“Steve, this was not clear. Not at all. This was the opposite of clear. For fuck sake, I thought you were gonna make us dump a body or something. You didn’t even tell me we were on a date!”

“I’m a SEAL, Danny. And I took you out on a boat, for a sunset. What did you think this was?”

“A _body dump_. Are you still not listening to me?”

“I brought food! And beer!”

“Well yeah, dumping bodies might make you hungry, right? There were also sharks! In fact there still are sharks, Steven. You took me on a date and I am still surrounded by sharks.”

“You are not ‘surrounded by sharks’. There’s only a few sharks over there. And they do not care about you at all.”

“Not my point, Steven! There’s still sharks, so it wasn’t in fact apparent that this was your idea of a romantic date. Though knowing you, I probably should have figured your idea of romance involves sharks. My point is, we’re only here due to my great detective skills. So be grateful for that-”

“Danny?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to kiss you now, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good.”

And Steve? Steve did just that. 

Though Danny never lets him live down the whole shark thing. The fucker would even take him to one of those tourist places to go swimming with sharks exactly one year later to propose to him, because - “I know it’s not real romance for you without some sharks!” 

Really, Steve doesn’t mind all that much in the end. 

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to cortexikid, who not only was this story made for but who also held my hand while writing it and was kind enough to tidy it up, when it was still a huge mess of words. All credit for this being a decent reading experience goes to her.
> 
> And of course thank **you** for reading! If you want you can find me on tumblr [here](http://itsmajel.tumblr.com/). Feedback is as always highly appreciated so if you liked this story, please consider leaving me some kudos or even a comment. And if you didn't enjoy it you're also also welcome to yell at me in the comments about it as long as you do it politely!


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